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2014 Prius Won't Start

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Jasminealeiah, May 17, 2022.

  1. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    Alright, so on Monday, May 9th, I had a used 2014 Prius delivered from Carvana, and during the brief drives I took that day, I kept noticing that the battery seemed to drain kinda fast, at least, according to me as a person who'd never driven a Prius before. I remember watching it throughout the day and noticing that it charged back up kinda slow (could be attributed to me not yet knowing the best ways to drive a Prius yet), but since it was third party delivery, I didn't have the temporary tags yet and couldn't legally drive it, past getting it home. I do seasonal work in and near the national parks and live in provided housing on the same property I work at, so it's not like I need to drive the car on the daily, anyway. I wasn't too worried about the temporaries not being here as long as I could get all the registration stuff taken care of at some point. I'm only likely to use the car when I head into town on my days off, anyway, and during the weeks I'm not going anywhere, I was planning to just drive the car for a bit 1 or 2 days a week to make sure it doesn't just sit there until I can drive it more when this job is done at the end of summer. This past Sunday, on the 15th, I went out to check on the car and maybe drive it a little, but it wouldn't start. I had a maintenance person at my job check on it and try to jump it off since he was nearby, and it appears that it's completely dead because it wouldn't jump. He put in a repair request for me to see if they can get someone in maintenance to do a slow charge so I can drive it to one of the shops in town, but I'm worried about it sitting even longer in the meantime. Anyone have any ideas on all this? Stuff I can do in the meantime while I'm waiting on maintenance to find time to do a slow charge for me? (Gosh, I'm so glad they're nice enough to do this here. I can't imagine a lot of jobs would let their maintenance staff spend time helping with employees having car trouble, and they put in an official request for me.) I'm thinking that it might just be an issue with the battery, but until I take it to a mechanic, I won't know for sure. I am expecting to have to shell out cash for a new battery, regardless (since it's been dead for a week, can't imagine it would last long after being charged back up, anyway), but I'm not super familiar with cars in general, and I know that a Prius is pretty different, being a hybrid. Does anyone else on here have any ideas about what this might be? I'm not sure if it would be the hybrid battery or the little 12V (those are different batteries, right?), and I'm not sure what to do from here. Do I go ahead and look into a replacement for the 12V battery or just wait until a mechanic looks at it to do anything else? I hate just sitting here. I feel like I need to be doing something, but as of right now, I don't know what I can really do, at the moment.
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    wow, i would disconnect the 12v and try a direct jump. that will tell you if it is the battery or not.

    an easier way would be to use a volt meter on the battery, and if that's good, check the voltage at the jump point under the hood.
    if the battery is bad, and more than a few years old, i would replace it.

    the hybrid battery draining quickly may not be an issue. i wouldn't jump to conclusions
     
    #2 bisco, May 17, 2022
    Last edited: May 17, 2022
  3. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    When disconnecting the 12v, are you directly jumping to that, or to the main hybrid battery? Regardless, I will try to make time to try out your suggestions next time I have free time and someone in maintenance is free to help me. If nothing else, I can order a volt meter thing of my own, since it's probably a good idea to have stuff like this on hand, but it means not being able to do anything much until it arrives. Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. I really appreciate the help!

    Edit: What kind of volt meter would you recommend buying for Prius batteries, in particular? Does it need anything specific?
     
    #3 Jasminealeiah, May 17, 2022
    Last edited: May 17, 2022
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    There is no connection between the hybrid battery and the 12volt until the car starts. so you have to start with the 12 volt
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Any simple digital volt meter from Amazon or anywhere.
    Shouldn’t be more than 10 or 20 dollars
     
  6. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    Alright, thank you! I'll start with all of that and then see what my next steps will be, afterward.
     
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  7. JohnPrius3005

    JohnPrius3005 Active Member

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    Do you have used car dealer lemon laws in your state?
     
  8. bettergolf

    bettergolf Active Member

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    Have a dealership check it...2014 with under 100k miles all the hybrid stuff would still be under warranty. If it's the 12v, they aren't that much more from a dealership that from anywhere else. And did you look up all the complaints about Carvana before you bought from them? I sold them a car, but I wouldn't trust buying one from them.
     
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  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    10 year, 150,000 mile warranty. but you have to have codes,not the battery icon info
     
  10. Paul E. Highway

    Paul E. Highway Active Member

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    Doesn't Carvana have a 30 or 60 day warranty? At least enough to get car started?
     
  11. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    Sorry! I got busy with work and completely forgot to check everything here. Honestly, though, I'm not sure if any of the warranties are still available (the carvana dashboard says they're not) but there is a limited warranty thing with Carvana. I just need to call Silverrock and explain everything and see if they'll cover the cost of fixing it. And I did see all the negative stuff with Carvana, but not until after I'd made the purchase, and I really didn't have a lot of options anyway (can't exactly get to a dealership in person without a car and am too far out to get a ride from a friend). Other than all of this, I don't really have any more updates on the car, since maintenance at work hasn't contacted me about anything to do with the car yet, and I don't have the necessary materials or free time to tackle things on my own, at the moment. If nothing else, I'll contact a shop nearby and get a tow and hope carvana's warranty will cover what needs to be done. Anyway, once I know more, I'll definitely post an update here. Thanks, everyone, for all of your help with this!
     
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  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    all the best!(y)
     
  13. JohnPrius3005

    JohnPrius3005 Active Member

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    Hi Jasmine, You seem like a goodhearted person and it's never good to hear of bad things happening to good people. Here is my 2c worth. There are a lot of very, very smart, knowledgeable people here on PriusChat. There are also others - like me!! - far less smart. You will get deluged with advice, some of it completely contradictory. Prius is, as another poster remarked, arguably one of of the most complex vehicles on the market. It is no easy feat to either personally learn all you need to learn to deal with maintenance issues, or to locate honest technicians with suitable experience, or to locate helpful, smart people willing to learn and help you. Sometimes the wisest course of action is to admit a mistake and get out of it as fast and as cheaply as possible. The thing in your favor is that used car prices are still ridiculously inflated. It might well be possible for you to sell your car, even without fixing it at all, for a loss which is ultimately much less than you will spend attempting to fix it. (My guess is that whoever sold this car to Carvana took this route, and probably made a profit.) Good luck with whatever you do. If you have the financial capability one additional idea is that in the current insane car (and other) market, today might be one time when leasing a new vehicle makes sense. Sure it's expensive, and being in "debt" is never a positive thing, but the fact of reliability and virtually no maintenance costs could well outweigh the negative of debt. Again, good luck to you. Maybe you can find a friend, colleague or family member you can trust who will sell you their older but reliable "regular" car or truck. Personally I'm always looking for those people ;-)
     
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  14. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    A few of these posts would be a lot easier to read if the walls of text were broken up into paragraphs.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  15. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    Ha Ha Ha that's funny! ithinktheyshouldallruntogether. :whistle:

    But, I totally agree with you.

     
  16. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    First what happened to the Prius from last year when all the solar and fridge equipment was going to be installed? Then there was the Baton Rouge and Ranch thing.

    Assuming this problem from Carvana is not a work of imagination, a car that started and ran one week should at least jump start the next. According to Toyota you should allow the jump to partially charge the battery for five minutes before pressing the Power button. This raises the combined voltage of the paralleled batteries. Which is usually enough to boot (start) the hybrid system.

    A slow charge will typically do the same thing but this could take hours or overnight.

    I would not disconnect the Prius 12v battery and attempt to run the car strictly on a jump source. If the Prius battery is that bad, it should be removed and taken to an auto supply or shop for a load check and a fast charge. If the 12v battery fails the load test, replace it.

    Once the car is functional again, drive it for at least 15 minutes two or three times a week.

    From the Operators Manual:
    Prius jump start gen3.jpeg
     
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  17. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    If you’re up for DIY: connect a 12 volt battery tester (say Solar BA9) and see where you’re at. No need to remove battery for this test.
     
  18. Noahdoge

    Noahdoge Active Member

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    Sounds like it’s the 12v. When my 12v went out I could only jump it off a few times, then the car had no power whatsoever after the 3rd attempt of me jumping the car off. Had to use the girlfriends car to pick up a new one at the dealership. Fixed all the issues. Make sure to call different places to ensure they have the correct one in stock. I’d still reach out to carvana and see if you can convince them to at least reimburse you for the battery replacement.
     
  19. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    Last year, the fridge thing was basically just me getting ahead of myself planning all this stuff before I had any of the money or supplies to do it with. Technically, I didn't even have the car yet, if I'm honest. And it took me longer than I'd like to save up, seeing as I just got the car delivered near the beginning of this month. The fridge is my next step after I deal with the battery issues, and thanks to that thread back in August, I already know what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it. (And as for Baton Rouge and the ranch thing, I can happily say that it's all worked out and I've got a pretty good setup here at the ranch, if I do say so.)

    I did actually call Carvana's warranty number to talk to someone yesterday, and the lady couldn't tell me for sure if it would be covered, but she referred me to one of their preferred repair locations nearby. Apparently, they'll have to do a check and find out for sure what needs to be done before any work is actually done on the car and then submit everything to the warranty people so they can decide whether or not it's something they'll cover. (I'm not explaining all of this very well.)
     
  20. Jasminealeiah

    Jasminealeiah Junior Member

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    First, I really do appreciate the suggestions. I'm probably just going to get it checked out by a professional before I decide that the issues aren't worth the risk. Some basic google searching has led me to believe that battery issues with used cars (especially ones that sit for weeks at a time between test drives and before a purchase) aren't entirely uncommon. It's unfortunate but not something I'm going to worry myself over in regards to other potential issues until I get it officially inspected. I suspect but can't be certain that the battery likely just hasn't had to be replaced yet and being that the car is a 2014, if that's the case, it's probably just reaching the end of its life.

    I'm just gonna try to stay positive about the whole thing until I know for sure what's going on. Thanks for the suggestions, though. I'll let everyone here know what's going on once I manage to jump it and get it checked out.